PRINCETON, N.J. - An overwhelming majority of Americans say they oppose giving more taxpayer money to two U.S. automakers to help them remain solvent, a poll indicates.

A Gallup poll found that 72 percent of Americans say Congress should not authorize the additional $21 billion in emergency loans that General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) and Chrysler LLC are requesting.

Just a quarter of respondents said Congress should help the two companies avert bankruptcy.

Gallup said even in the Midwest, the heart of the U.S. auto industry, just 28 percent of respondents said the federal government should loan GM and Chrysler additional money.

"Whether it's because of their badly reviewed testimony before Congress last year, their perceived mismanagement of their companies, or because of bailout fatigue, more generally, the U.S. auto executives' latest plea for taxpayer help is being met with little sympathy," Gallup said in its analysis.

The poll of 1,013 national adults was conducted Friday to Sunday. The poll's maximum margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.